title: Socialisation scheme with a high staff-patient ratio.
abstract: Six months after a comprehensive socialisation scheme began, a prospective controlled study was carried out. The patients were tested in three practical sections - Cooking; Maintenance of Home and Clothing; Other Skills (eg. form-filling); and with a Questionnaire. Forty-eight members of an experimental group received socialisation training after initial testing. They and the 20 controls who did not undergo training were re-evaluated three months later. There was no significant difference between the groups in their initial scores. On retesting, the experimental group showed a significant improvement in Cooking (p less than 0.001), Home Maintenance (p less than 0.001) and the Questionnaire (p less than 0.05). Analysis of the inter-group differences showed significant superiority of the experimental group in Cooking (p less than 0.05) and Home Maintenance (p less than 0.05). It is suggested that such a socialisation scheme be considered for inclusion alongside other rehabilitation services in psychiatric hospitals. The emphasis on a high staff-to-patient ratio and the breakdown of each task into smaller steps emerged as essential elements in the training programme.
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012951:Socialization